I thought about Jerome, that cold and barely repressed anger in his eyes. He’d been pissed off, and I knew it must have killed him to not be able to take his wrath out on Grace. There were taboos about directly harming and interfering with mortals, but well, it wasn’t unheard of, and there were always loopholes. He would have gotten in less trouble for it than for smiting Grace.

“Well,” I said, “let’s just say, they would have at least made him suffer considerably.”

“I figured. And I couldn’t let that happen . . . not even to him. What he did was wrong—it seriously messed things up for you and put you at risk. But in some bizarre, crazy way, he did it because he loved you. And I’m not sure someone should be tortured for that. And . . .” Seth studied me carefully. “I had a feeling you wouldn’t have wanted that.”

He was right. No matter how much I’d been hurt, despite the betrayal . . . I had cared about Dante. I still did a little. “God, I have to stop getting involved with unstable men. Where is he now?”

“I dropped him off at his place. He started coming around and was able to walk and everything.”

“If he has any sense, he’ll be long gone. I think Jerome’ll have a long memory.”

“And, so . . . things are back to normal?”

I took awhile to answer. “Yeah. I’m back in full succubus glory.”

He turned away and began pacing. “I knew it would happen . . . knew this was coming, and yet . . . I kept pretending it wouldn’t.”

“Me too. I think somewhere in my head, I had this fantasy that I could find Jerome and still be with you.”

Seth stopped and looked at me. “We still can be. I meant what I said . . . that I would try again . . .”

I met his gaze levelly. “What about Maddie?”

“I . . . I would end it with her . . .”

“Do you love her?” My words were blunt. I think I caught him by surprise.

“Yes . . . but it’s different. Different from the way I love you.”

“It doesn’t matter,” I said. “You and I can’t be together. If you have a chance to be happy, then you need to take it. We can’t do this to her again. It’s wrong. She doesn’t deserve it.”

“I told you I’d end things with her first if we were getting back together. I can’t cheat anymore.”

“You can’t break up,” I said, surprised by the vehemence in my own voice. “She loves you. You love her. And after what we did to her . . .”

“You want me to stay with her as some sort of compensation?”